Chan’s night club a victim of bad reputation

He knows the reputation of the club that started in the late 1970s behind University Mall and moved to its new location on Nine Mile Road in 2000.

It’s a high-octane redneck fight club filled with mooks and tough guys just looking for trouble. That’s why Bowman is planning on burying the long-standing name come Sunday.

“From 2002 to about 2004, it was a redneck fight bar,” said Bowman, Chan’s longtime general manager. “We’ve made the bar better, repaired things, upgraded things and we got a lot of new customers, better customers. But we still can’t break that reputation. Some people won’t come because there’s this negativity that chases the name. It’s old redneck fight reputation won’t die. I can’t get it to die.”

So he’s burying the name. Friday and Saturday is Chan’s final hurrah. Longtime owner Brad Gambrell, who purchased the club from founder Chan Cox in the late 1990s, is retiring. He has sold the club to Bowman, who is also the vocalist for Chan’s longtime house band, Blackwater.

Bowman plans on closing the club after Saturday’s shindig and opening up a few weeks later as Stage North Side. And it will be different from Chan’s. For one, the workstaff — most of Chan’s staff is coming with Bowman — will be wearing uniforms.

And, this is a biggie — Stage North Side will be smoke free.

“When it was at University Mall, Chan’s had a real energetic, positive vibe,” Bowman said. “It was always fun. We had blue collar, white collar, no collar college kids.” He’s right. In the 1980s and 1990s, Chan’s at University Mall was, to use a term from the period, a yuppie haven, filled with working professionals unwinding after a long day at the law office.

But when the club moved to Nine Mile Road, Bowman said many of the previous clients felt shut out. Now, with a new name, interior upgrades, a focus on live music and a smoke-free atmosphere, Bowman hopes to attract many of the people who were plain scared to go to Chan’s.

He wants young people. He wants the college kids from the University of West Florida down the road. He wants business folks rubbing elbows with his blue collar regulars. He wants a fresh start.

And he’s not worried about the no-smoking rule. On a packed Wednesday night, most in the Chan’s crowd said they would welcome a smoke-free club. Including some of the employees.

JoJo, a smiling, friendly waitress, said only a small minority smoke at Chan’s anyway.

“It really is a dying trend,” she said. And sure enough, just a few in the bustling crowd were lighting up anyway.

So what can you expect from Stage North Side? Clean air. A clean establishment. Lively, live music. And a place where you can take your date and not just a bunch of burly friends for “backup.” Two more days and Chan’s is gone.

But three-decades plus is a good run. Good luck Trevan. Good luck Stage North Side. (And Brad, enjoy your retirement in North Carolina!)